


Irreplaceable

by mikkimouse



Series: Tumblr Fics [166]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, M/M, Post-Season/Series 04
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-24
Updated: 2017-10-24
Packaged: 2019-01-22 05:40:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12474708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mikkimouse/pseuds/mikkimouse
Summary: Shiro finds out how Keith intended to save Voltron and the coalition from Haggar's plot. He's...not happy.(Spoilers for the end of season 4.)





	Irreplaceable

**Author's Note:**

> Written for this prompt: "you know how Lotor is like always thinking ahead of them? My prompt is a scene where Lotor sees right through Shiro & Keith and thinks they're together." 
> 
> Me: How in the hell am I going to get Lotor to where he sees Keith and Shiro?  
> Season 4: *happens*  
> Me: WELP.
> 
> Originally posted to Tumblr [here](https://mad-madam-m.tumblr.com/post/166683291900/prompt-for-sheith-you-can-make-this-fluffy-or).

“You were going to do _what?”  
_

Keith took a deep breath and met Shiro’s furious gaze. “We needed to get through the cruiser’s shield, and none of us had the firepower to do it. We had to do something before Naxzela exploded!”  


Shiro took a step forward. “And your solution was to _ram it?_ With your _own_ ship?”  


Keith spared a glance across the room to glare at Matt, who winced and mouthed _Sorry_. It didn’t matter. Keith was going to kill him. He could make it look like an accident. 

“I didn’t have a lot of other options,” he said through gritted teeth. “We had to get through somehow. Otherwise we’d have lost the entire system!”  


_Otherwise, I’d have lost you_ , he thought, but couldn’t bring himself to say. Voltron was fast, but there was no way it was fast enough to get away from an explosion of that size. Keith would have lost everyone he cared about in the blink of an eye.  


He’d have lost Shiro. Again, and for good.

“What if it hadn’t worked?” Shiro shouted. “You would have thrown your life away, and for nothing!”  


Keith flung his arm out. “What did you want me to do? Nothing? Because those were my choices! Sit there and watch while Haggar blows up a planet and destroys every hope we have of defeating the Galra, or try to stop it!”  


“There had to have been another way that didn’t involve you _dying!”_ Shiro shouted.  
__

“There was,” a new voice drawled. “Or have you boys forgotten the reason you’re even _having_ your lover’s spat is because I flew in at the last minute to save the day?” 

Keith whirled around, the blood draining from his face. Lotor was still sitting in Pidge’s chair where they’d tied him up, smirking at both of them.  


Keith had completely forgotten he was there.

Shiro drew back and frowned at him. “What are you talking about?”  


Lotor chuckled. “Surely your boyfriend didn’t try to take credit for _me_ blowing a hole in that cruiser.”  


“Boyfriend?!” Keith exclaimed, and head Shiro echo the word in the same tone of disbelief.  


“Oh.” Lotor raised one white eyebrow. “Are you not?”  


Keith’s heart hammered in his throat. He’d thought he was doing a good job of hiding his feelings, but if _Lotor_ could tell…  


“No, we aren’t,” Shiro said firmly.  


“Hm. My mistake, then,” Lotor said. “A shame, though. You do make a very entertaining pair.”  


Keith couldn’t take this for one minute longer. He spun on his heel and stalked off the bridge. “I’m heading to the training deck. Tell Pidge to call me when we start the debriefing.”  


He heard Shiro call his name, but he couldn’t bring himself to look back.  


***

Either the gladiators weren’t as hard as he remembered, or Keith had gotten a lot stronger fighting with the Blades, because he tore through the first four training levels in less than five minutes. It gave him something to focus on, gave him a way to work out his anger and frustrations, but right now even fighting wasn’t enough to wipe away the way Shiro had sounded when he’d said _no_.  


_No, we aren’t._

It was true. They weren’t.  


But the finality in his voice…

Keith rammed his sword through the next robot to come at him. It fell to the ground, sparking.  


His eyes stung, and he swiped at them angrily. “End program.”  


The door to the training room whooshed open, and Shiro walked in.  


Keith turned his back so that Shiro couldn’t see that he’d been crying. “I told you to have Pidge call me.”  


“Keith,” Shiro said softly. “You would have been killed if Lotor hadn’t shown up. We’d have lost you.” There was a beat, and then, “ _I’d_ have lost you.”  


Keith’s heart twisted, and he shoved his knife back in its sheath. “Voltron couldn’t have escaped that explosion. If I hadn’t done something, we’d have lost _everything!_ ”

“Keith–”

Keith spun around and cut him off. “I had to do _something!_ ”

“Dying shouldn’t have been it!” Shiro shouted. “How could you think that? There had to have been another way. There _had_ to have been…” He closed his eyes and trailed off, turning away. “You have to know how much you mean to me.”  


“Do I?” Keith asked, and he couldn’t keep the tremor out of his voice.  


Shiro looked back at him then, so broken and vulnerable that it was _gutting_.  


_Oh_ , Keith thought distantly. He’d always assumed his feelings were one-sided, had always assumed there was no way Shiro could care as much about him as he did about Shiro.  


Apparently that assumption had been wrong.  


He took two steps forward, uncertain, trying to gauge how he’d be received. Shiro grabbed his hand and hauled him into a hug, hard, and stifled a sob in his ear. Keith hugged him back, pressing his face into Shiro’s chest and trying not to break down.  


“I can’t lose you,” Shiro whispered. “I need you, Keith, I need to know you’re _okay_ , even if I can’t be with you, I need–”

“I need you, too,” Keith said, his throat tight. “I thought you were mad at me for leaving, I thought you didn’t need me anymore–”  


Shiro’s arms tightened around him. “God, Keith, _no_. I thought that was what you wanted. I thought you were mad at _me_ , and I didn’t want to force you to stay. I was trying to be supportive. Did you not want to go?”  


“I did,” Keith admitted. “The work is important, and I hate parades. But…I wanted you to want me to stay.” 

“I did.” Shiro pressed a kiss to the side of his head. “I do. It kills me when you’re not here.”  


Keith closed his eyes. “It kills me not to be with you.”

Shiro sighed. It sounded a little wet. “I should’ve said something ages ago, but it never seemed the right time. But when Matt told me what you’d done, I just…I had no idea how close I’d come to losing you and it scared me to death.”  


Hot tears pricked at the corners of Keith’s eyes. “I couldn’t think of anything else. I had to do something.”

“I know, but God, Keith…you’re irreplaceable.”

Keith laughed hollowly. “Voltron replaced me pretty easily.”  


Shiro pulled back and cupped his face, his grey eyes burning with a determination Keith had only rarely seen. “You. Are irreplaceable. To me.”  


Keith could only stare back at him. He’d had no idea. Sure, Shiro was irreplaceable to _him_ , Shiro was the one who never gave up on him, who believed in him, who never walked away from him. He’d never thought he might have been the same thing to Shiro.  


“Keith–” Shiro started.  


The comms crackled on. “Shiro, Keith,” Pidge said. “We need you for debriefing.”

Keith gritted his teeth so he wouldn’t yell at her.

Shiro actually groaned, soft enough that only Keith could hear. “We’ll be right there, Pidge.”  


Keith wrapped his hands around Shiro’s wrists. “Talk later?” he asked.  


Shiro’s face softened into a small smile, and he nodded. “Later. Come on, let’s go debrief.”  


Keith took Shiro’s hands from his face and threaded their fingers together, and let Shiro pull him from the room.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic assumes that the current Shiro is real!Shiro, only having some significant issues because because the Galra fucked with his brain. I’m about 55/45 on whether current!Shiro is a clone or it’s really him, just with some kind of mind fuckery. Leaning slightly toward the clone theory just because of the name of the operation and the personality changes, but honestly I think they’ve got it built out that this could go either way.
> 
> Find me on [Tumblr](https://mad-madam-m.tumblr.com/) and [Twitter](https://twitter.com/mad_madam_m)!


End file.
